Vacuum card feeder



Oct. 24, 1961 R. F. MGVICKER ET AL 3,005,631

VACUUM CARD FEEDER Filed Jan. 26, 1959 2 Shetg-Sheet 1 INVENTORS B) fi QZ ATTORNEYS Oct. 24, 1961 R. F. MCVICKER ET AL 3,005,631

VACUUM CARD FEEDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 26, 1959 WIT 7 I w 1 g 70 69 h I /8 20 K 10 74 E 72 /6 g I 74 INVENTORS' BY 7 AM %/M E ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,005,631 VACUUM CARD FEEDER Robert F. McVicker and Omar Hansen, Jr.,

Ind., assignors to Lynch Corporation, Anderson, a corporation of Indiana Filed Jan. 26, 1959, Ser. No. 788,880 4 Claims. (Cl. 271-27) Ind.,

This invention relates to a vacuum card feeder which draws a card from the bottom of a stack of cards and positions it in relation to an article to be wrapped in a wrapping machine or the like.

One object of the invention is to provide a card pickup device having a vacuum cup thereon to which vacuum is applied when a card is to be withdrawn from a magazine of cards, and vacuum retains the card on the card pickup device while it is moved to another position for depositing. the card on top of an article, whereupon the vacuum is released thus releasing the card from the card pickup device and permitting it to settleby gravity onto the article.

Another object is to provide a card pickup device which has an initial motionstraight away from the magazine and then swings the card through a portion of a circle, then moves it straight downwardly toward an article, and just before it reaches its lowest position cuts ofi the vacuum so that the card will drop away from the card pickup device and onto the article for further processing of the article and card in a wrapping machine or the like.

A further object is to provide simplified mechanism for securing a desired complex movement of the card pickup device comprising a swinging arm and a cam slot, together with a slotted mounting for the card pickup device so that an oscillating movement imparted to the arm will accomplish the desired complex movement of the card pickup device.

Still a further object is to provide a device for handling die cut cards of various weights and shapes with a minimum of abuse.

With these and other objects in view, our invention.

consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of our vacuum card feeder, whereby the objects above contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims and illustrated in detail on the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view feeder embodying our present invention;

FIG. 2 is a reduced side elevation thereof with some parts in section on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to a portion of FIG. 2 showing the parts in a different position;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on theline 4-4 of FIG. 2 showing a vacuum valve in the open position; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the valve in closed position. 7 g I On theIaccompanying drawings'we haveused the reference numerals 10 and 12 to indicate stationary shafts of the frame of a wrapping machine and 14 an article conveyor thereof. The wrapping machine also has an actuating shaft 16 which is oscillatable once each cycle of operation of the wrapping machine.

Our vacuum card feeder includes a mounting bar 18 secured to the frame shafts 18 and 12 and a bracket 20 secured to the mounting bar 18 by screws 22.. At the upper end of the bracket 20 as shown in FIG. 2, we provide a magazine for cards 24 comprising channelshaped members 26 and 28 supported by the bracket. At their lower ends, stop screws 30 project a short distance as shown in FIG. 2 into the space occupied by the cards Anderson,

of a vacuum card,

lice

24; The degree of projection is sutficient to retain them from falling out, yet permit withdrawal of the lowermost card as will hereinafter appear.

A card pickup device 32 is provided carrying a vacuum cup 34. The device 32 consists of a block having a slot 38 pivotally and slidably mounted on a pin 36, the pin being carried by the bracket 20 and also supported by a sub-bracket 37 mounted on a spacer 39 secured to the bracket 20.

An arm 40 is pivoted at 42 to the block 32 and is pivoted at 46 to a link 44. The link 44 in turn is pivoted at 48 to a boss 50 extending from the bracket 20. The bracket 20 is provided with a block 75 in which is a cam slot 76, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear, having a straight cam slot portion 78, a curved cam slot portion 80 and another straight cam slot portion 82. The pivot pin 42 travels in the slot 76 as the arm 40 is oscillated between the different positions thereof shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. I

The arm 40 is biased to the position shown in FIG. 2 by a spring 52 having its upper end anchored to a rod 54 and its lower end hooked over a pin 56 of the lever 40. A set screw 58 (see FIG. 1) is carried by a boss 60 on the bracket 20 for adjusting the angle of the rod 54, thus varying the tension of the spring 5-2 as desired.

For actuating the arm 40 against the bias of the spring 52 we provide a chain 62 pinned thereto at 66 and extending over an idler 64, then to a pin 68 carried by an arm 70. The arm 70 is operatably connected to the actuating shaft 16 by a clamp cap 72 and a pair of clamp screws 74. A slot 6? is provided for the pin 68 for radial adjustment to change the throw of the lever 40 as required.

A vacuum valve body 84 is provided in which is a valve plug 86 connected by a stem 88 to an actuating button 90. A spring 92 is enclosed in the actuating button for rendering the vacuum valve normally open (FIG. 4 position). A vacuum pump hose 94 extends from a suitable vacuum pump to the valve body 84 and a connecting hose 96 is provided from the valve body to the block 32 and the vacuum cup 34 thereof for creating a vacuum at the surface of the cup when the valve is open as in FIG. 4. For closing the valve as in FIG. 5, we provide a set screw 98 carried by the arm 40 and engageable with the actuating button to depress it as disclosed in FIG. 5.

- Practical operation In the operation of our vacuum card feeder, an initial point in the cycle of operation is illustrated in FIG. 2 with vacuum on the cup 34 and the cup in engagement with the lowermost card 24 in the magazine 26-28. As the arm 70 on the shaft 16 rocks toward the left it pulls on the chain 62 for swinging the arm 40 downwardly against the bias of the spring 52 and the initial movement will lower the card pickup device 32 straight away from the stack of cards 24 because of the pin 42 traveling in the cam slot portion78 (which is parallel to the axis of the magazine) and the slot 38 traveling over the pin 36 (the slot likewise being parallel to the axis of the magazine).

The lowermost card 24 will be held by the vacuum cup 34 and bowed downwardly until its side edges spring oif the stop screws 30 whereupon the card can be swung around to another position and the swinging is accomplished by the pin 42 transversing the curved cam slot portion 80 while the block 32 pivots about the pin 36. Adjacent the end of the stroke the pin 42 enters the straight cam slot portion 82 whereupon the movement of the block 32 is straight downwardly to the final position illustrated in FIG. 3. In that position the card 24 is deposited on an article 100 in a tray 102 and the total path of movement of the card 24 from the magazine to 3 the article is demonstrated a point P at substantially the center of the vacuum cup 34 beginning at the point P in FIG. 2 and ending at the point P in FIG. 3.

After the pin 42 leaves the curved'portion 80 of the cam slot and enters the portion 82, the set screw 98 of the arm 49 engages the actuating button 90 of the valve 84 and depresses the valve plug 86 until it plugs a valve seat 87 in the valve block body (FIG. 5), thus cutting ofi the vacuum so that the card 24 in FIG. 3 is released and may fall the rest of the way by gravity into position on the article 1439 and/or be pushed by the cup 34 to the position illustrated. After the plug 86 enters the seat 87, it may move slightly further downward to insure keeping the vacuum valve closed until the second half of the cycle is commenced by the lever 70 swinging from the dotted position of FIG. 2 and toward the right. Of course, during the reverse movement just described the vacuum soon comes on by reason of the valve 84 being opened, and the movement of the block 32 is a reversal of that described previously and ends with a straight movement toward the magazine 26-28 and contact of the vacuum cup 34 with the next lowermost card 24 in the magazine whereupon the cycle is repeated.

From the foregoing description it will be obvious that we have provided a comparatively simple mechanism for removing cards from a magazine, one at a time, and depositing them on an article to be wrapped in a wrapping machine. The necessary complex movement of the card pickup device 32 is accomplished by the combination of swinging arm 441 and cam slot 76 as described so that the mechanism necessary for actuating the card feeder can comprise a simple oscillating arm 70 that oscillates in timed relation to the cycles of operation of the wrapping machine.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the par-ts of our vacuum card feeder with out departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claims those modified forms ofstructure or use of mechanical equivalents which may reasonably be included within their scope.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a vacuum card feeder, a card pickup device, a swinging arm having one end pivotally connected therewith for moving the same, a link having one end pivotally mounted and its other end pivoted to the other end of said swinging arm for supporting the arm, a vacuum cup carried by said card pickup device, and means for imparting to said card pickup device a retracting movement relative to a card magazine, a swinging movement and an advance movement toward an article to deposit the card thereon, comprising a slotted and pivoted mounting for said card pickup device in which the slot thereof extends substantially parallel to the axis of said vacuum cup, a cam slot with a curved portion and a pair of straight portions at the ends of said curved portion to coact with the pivot between said arm and said card pickup device, said straight portions extending toward said card magazine axially thereof andrto'ward said article laterally thereofrespectively, and avalve for controlling the connection of a vacuum line to said vacuum cup, connectingthe vacuum to said vacuum cup before it contacts a card at the bottom of said magazine and discontinuing the in FIG. 3 b the path 104 of 7 vacuum connection just before the card is deposited on an article to be wrapped in the wrapping machine.

2. In a vacuum card feeder, a card pickup device, a link-mounted swinging arm connected therewith for moving the same, and means for imparting to said card pickup device a retracting movement relative to a card magazine, a swinging movement and an advance movement toward an article to deposit the card thereon comprising a slotted and pivoted mounting for said card pickup device, a cam slot with a curved portion and a pair of straight portions at the ends of said curved portion to coact with the pivot between said arm and said card pickup device, a vacuum cup carried by said card pickup device, and a valve for controlling the connection of a vacuum line thereto, con necting the vacuum to said vacuum cup before contacts a card at the bottom of said magazine and discontinue the vacuum connection just before the card is deposited on an article to be wrapped in a wrapping machine, spring means for moving said arm in one direction, a chain for moving the arm in the other directions, and an operative connection between said chain and a cyclically oscillatable lever of the wrapping machine.

3. In a vacuum card feeder, a card pickup device, a swinging arm and cam means for imparting to said card pickup device a retracting movement relative to a card magazine, a swinging movement and an advance movement toward an article to deposit the card thereon, a vacuum cup carried by said card pickup device, a valve for controlling the connection of a vacuum line thereto, spring means for moving said arm in one direction, a flexible element connecting said arm and a cyclically oscillatable lever of a wrapping machine, and means carried by said arm for actuating said vacuum valve.

4. In a vacuum card feeder, a card pickup device including a block, an upwardly facing vacuum cup carried by the upper end of said block, means pivoted to said block for moving the same, and means for imparting to said vacuum cup a downwardly retracting movement relative to a card magazine, a swinging movement to turn said block over so that said vacuum cup faces downwardly and a downwardly advancing movement toward an article to deposit the card thereon, comprising a slotted and pivoted connection for the end of said block opposite said vacuum cup in which the slot cooperates with said first means to elfect said downward retracting and downward advancing movements and a cam slot with a curved portion and a pair of straight portions at the ends of said curved portion to coact with the pivot between said first means and said block, said straight portions extending toward said card magazine axially thereof and toward said article laterally thereof respectively, the curved portion of said slot curving around the pivot of said slotted and pivoted connection, and means for controlling the connection of a vacuum source to said vacuum cup.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Switzerland July 17, 1950 

